Being digital

As I mentioned before, digital art is not my cup of tea. I don’t get it in general, although I like some of the pieces. It could be a matter of age or temperament.

Unfortunately I fell in love with creating seamless patterns from my traditional artwork, so a basic knowledge of digital graphics is essential. I am getting through step by step, using intuition as well as tutorials from internet. It’s like discovering a new universe that has long existed for many people.

For example, I was totally excited to discover a tool that adds a watercolor effect. As long as I followed instructions, I got an incredible result. But then I wanted to spread my wings and fly my own way. No, no, no!

I tried to vectorize my drawing of a rose and then apply the watercolor effect. Something strange happened, the rose became a kind of shiny candy instead of a loose watercolor flower. Even so, I put those candies into a seamless pattern. Am I a bit of masochist?

To be honest, not every day is awful. I met a great surprise inside of the tutorial how to draw a mandala. Another thing, which is not generally my cup of tea. But watching how every move of mouse is multiplied and symmetrically placed at the same time, was simply wonderful!

I have no use for mandalas yet, but for the great feeling I will definitely repeat this exercise. Probably combined with a “watercolor” background, as in the title image. What do you think about seamless pattern, based on something like this?

No worries, I still draw and paint by hand and still prefer it.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

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Mushroom season

I love mushrooms. I’m obsessed with them. A walk in the forest usually means looking for mushrooms. Partially because of the conditions in which I grew up. Mushrooms were important addition to diet at a time, when both people and market supply were poor.

For us as children, mushroom hunting was a kind of game, an adventure in the forest. And the mushroom dishes that mom cooked were delicious! I would never call them replacement food.

Most people I know only pick boletus mushrooms. I love them too. But since I live in an area not abundant with mushrooms, I have learned to recognize even less common species. No, I’m not a mycologist. I just like to bring enough for a regular meal.

People often look at me with suspicion if I want to poison someone. The symbol of a mushroom that tastes wonderful, even it looks inedible, is Laccaria amethystina.

I use it for my colored pencils drawing and since I changed the graphics software I’m learning to work in, I used the drawing as a background for one of my lessons.

Seamless pattern from my vectorized drawing.

No, I’m not going to go down this route of making seamless patterns. I just needed to practice the tools of the new software. Although it doesn’t look so bad, what do you say? Of course, I miss my colors!

I hope to bring you some next time.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Path to patterns

I’m still a newbie, but I can look back and make a few notes about the path. If you are familiar with digital graphics, don’t read any further or you will burst out laughing.

The first step was to understand how the seamless pattern works. Believe it or not, I did it completely non-digitally, using scissors and masking tape. It was a huge test of patience, but I succeeded! The only weakness was that the borders between the quarters of the paper, which I moved on the masking tape, were visible in the final image. Which led the non-digital method to digital retouching, unfortunately. And I had no idea how to do it in the beginning.

Being immersed in the basic tools of digital graphics, I discovered a simple possibility how to create seamless patterns from existing images. Yes, after such an effort, I needed something simple with a quick result. In principle, the program blurs the edges and blends with the duplicate.

Now, I’m at the stage where I’m learning to work with layers. Selecting segments and grouping them into patterns can be fun for people who know how to do it. I like getting results, but it’s still exhausting for me. Please give me feedback, I need a kick for more attempts.

Thanks all of you for reading and support!

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Windows

Nothing to do with Microsoft, just the opening of a second year of personal art challenge. Even made on time, I come to report late.

Since the spring, I had a clear vision of a window, from which a goat looks out over a box with flowers. Specifically, there should be tulips and daffodils. I delayed until all the tulips and daffodils were gone and autumn came. Then I put the window at the top of the new list.

As if I knew, I had a hard time with the goat. Quite satisfied with the sketch, I tried to add more colors and apply a white gel pen, which I just bought. And suddenly a completely different animal appeared in the window!

The first goat may be a little tough in its expression, but the other is as mild as a lamb. Is it still a goat?

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Originally, I sketched the window itself – small in size, colored by ink pencils. Nothing special until I decided to create a seamless pattern from it. Looks interesting, what do you say?

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Hope you have a pleasant time, looking forward to the holidays!

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Repeated pattern, part two

Thanks for the encouragement to make repeated pattern from my artwork, printable on fabric!

Since the hand-drawing tiles were demanding on patience, accuracy and time, I tried to dive into editing tools a bit deeper. Even free software contains a long list of them, under whose names I usually can’t imagine anything at all.

I’m a beginner, but I’m not a coward! Moreover, I was gifted by the nature of a discoverer. So I tested applying one tool after another until I met the right one. Hurrah!

So far I haven’t tried any modifications to the basic settings, instead I immediately applied this tool to a million of my existing artworks.

The results are not such repeated patterns I originally imagined, but some of them are damn interesting, what do you think?

Where available, they are linked to the posts with original images.

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Myrtle – colored pencils + liner, Aquarius – colored pencils, Alchemilla – colored pencils + liner

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Quo vadis – colored pencils + liner, Yellow bedstraw – colored pencils + liner, Hidden secret – colored pencils

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Iris – watercolor, Peony – watercolor, Rose – watercolor

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How to reach perfection – colored pencils, Water – colored pencils + liner, Fire – watercolor

Let me know if you found a favorite. It’ll help me keep improving. Thanks a lot!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

P.S. The featured image contains a part of the leaves with droplets, see In the middle of lockdown.